Donate to VisionSpring to Give Glasses to Girls In Need

Change a girl’s life with your latte money.

Do you wear glasses or contacts? Think back to that moment you realized you couldn’t see the blackboard: What if you were denied that first pair of glasses? How would your life be different? Would you be where you are right now? Would you have had the same experiences, been in the same classes, and be treated the same by your peers?

In the United States, kids who develop myopia (a.k.a. near-sightedness) tend to see an optometrist to get the right prescription, and someone — often their parents, possibly aided by insurance — pay a couple of hundred dollars for them. This usually happens around 11-14 years old.

The same situation is echoed around the world — in India, Rwanda, Nigeria, and other developing nations. The trouble is, they just have to go without.

“Can you imagine trying to get an education, if you can’t even see the blackboard?” says Ella Gudwin, President of Vision Spring, a non-profit that aims to help kids and adults see better, boosting independence and earning power.

Here’s the challenge: In these areas, optometrists are scarce, and glasses are unaffordable. So many of these students continue to squint and struggle in class, until they eventually drop out. In many of their societies, girls aren’t encouraged to get an education in the first place, so declining vision becomes a convenient excuse to take girls out of school.

Glasses shouldn’t be a medical luxury, says Gudwin. “This technology is now about 700-years old, and can be produced for about $1 a pair,” she says. That’s why VisionSpring sells radically affordable glasses, making them available for everyone in these developing nations. They produce high-volumes of glasses at a very low cost, and with a small amount of donated funds, makes them accessible to low income buyers (people earning less than $4 a day).

Where you fit in: For your donation of $5 — what you might spend on a pricey Starbucks — you’ll deliver one pair of eyeglasses to someone in need.

Not only will you be helping young girls get the education they need, you’ll also be helping their broader communities. Most adults’ vision worsens around their peak earning years (35-60 years old), and if they can’t see, they can’t work. By providing glasses to them, they can continue to provide for themselves and likely their families, helping end the poverty cycle.

“Don’t think of it as buying glasses,” says Gudwin. “You’re unlocking someone’s potential, that’s being held back because they need a pair of glasses.”